'Confidence in Race Relations Tumble'

Americans still believe most of their fellow countrymen aren’t racist but think race relations in this country have taken a decided turn for the worse.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 17% of American Adults now rate race relations in America today as good or excellent, down by half from 34% a year ago. Twenty-nine percent (29%) describe race relations as poor, compared to 19% who felt that way in January 2014. ...

The survey of 800 Adults was conducted on January 14-15, 2014 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

One wonders if the ubiquity of Al Sharpton might just have something to do with this. After the Academy Award nominations were released, Sharpton announced that he had:

… called an emergency meeting early next week in Hollywood with the task force to discuss possible action around the Academy Awards ...

'Nobody's Interested More in Good Policing than African-American Community'

America is "less racially divided" now than it was six years ago, President Obama told NPR in an interview. The president was responding to this question, from NPR host Steve Inskeep, "Is the United States more racially divided than it was when you took office six years ago, Mr. President?"

President Obama alluded to the recent unrest in Ferguson and New York City in remarks today at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C. The president talked of "restoring a sense of common purpose."

President Obama will ask Congress "for $263 million for the federal response to the civil rights upheaval in Ferguson, Missouri, and is setting up a task force to study how to improve modern-day policing," Reuters reports.

"The St. Louis County grand jury’s decision not to indict the white police officer who in August shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, would have generated widespread anger and disappointment in any case. But the county prosecutor, Robert McCulloch, who is widely viewed in the minority community as being in the pockets of the police, made matters infinitely worse . . . ” (“The Meaning of the Ferguson Riots,” New York Times, Nov. 25).

The family of Michael Brown has released this statement, upon hearing that Officer Darren Wilson will not be indicted for killing Brown in Ferguson, Missouri:

"We are profoundly disappointed that the killer of our child will not face the consequence of his actions.

"While we understand that many others share our pain, we ask that you channel your frustration in ways that will make a positive change. We need to work together to fix the system that allowed this to happen.

'Demonstrations like these have the potential to spark a sustained and positive national dialogue'

Ahead of the grand jury in Ferguson announcing whether it will indict a police officer for killing a man in Ferguson, Missouri, Attorney General Eric Holder has released a video announcement telling law enforcement to behave.

"The Justice Department encourages law enforcement officials, in every jurisdiction, to work with the communities they serve to minimize needless confrontation," Holder says.